Convicted Peninsula child molester who blamed victim gets prison

REDWOOD CITY -- A San Francisco man was sentenced to 24 years in prison Wednesday for molesting a girl -- starting when she 8 years old -- whom he said "threw herself at him," a prosecutor said.

Omar Mejia Melendez, 46, didn't react when San Mateo County Superior Court Judge John Grandsaert imposed the sentence, which also forces him to register as a sex offender after prison. Melendez continues to deny any wrong doing in the case, Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti said.

Melendez's attorney Steve Chase said his client "has very limited mental abilities, and believes that he was falsely convicted."

Omar Melendez, 46, of San Francisco was sentenced Oct. 16, 2013
to 24 years in prison for molesting a girl in Daly City.
(
joshua melvin
)

The abuse allegedly began in 2009 when Melendez was living with the then 8-year-old victim and her family in a Daly City home. Over the 18 months to two years he stayed there, Melendez would "play games," which meant groping the victim, Guidotti said.

The abuse allegedly occurred at least once a week but was sometimes as frequent as every other day. Police got involved after the victim revealed the abuse to a friend at school three years after it began.

A San Mateo County jury convicted Melendez in August of 24 felony molestation counts. He was being held in Redwood City in lieu of $6 million bail.